As part of data charging for services associated with communication service providers, there is a process including a reservation of a balance against a quota (e.g. the amount of Mbytes granted to the network). After timeout (e.g. around 15 min, etc.), the network responds with a usage report indicating the amount of the Mbytes granted that were actually used and then requests a new quota. All traditional online charging systems work in this manner according to the established standard.
Operators limit their credit risk by using real time charging systems where authorization of services is continuously under surveillance by the charging system. Irrespective of whether a subscriber is given a zero credit limit, thereby having to prepay for their services, or allowed a non-zero credit limit to be paid after the service is rendered (e.g. via a monthly bill, etc.), real time charging is used to ensure that the subscriber cannot exceed an allowed credit limit. For similar reasons, end users expect control over their charges and demand equally safe control over their spending.
In order to handle charging control while coping with the increased need for real time credit control, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 3GPP has (in TS 32.299) specified Diameter based offline and online charging applications for 3GPP networks. Using the offline charging mechanism, charging information does not affect, in real-time, the service rendered.
In contrast, online charging is the charging mechanism where charging information can affect, in real-time, the service rendered and therefore a direct interaction of the charging mechanism with session/service control is required.
However, a problem with the charging architecture as defined by 3GPP is that it does not provide a mechanism to handle the increased signaling and load on the communication network or a way to optimize the quota size and timeout to minimize this increase of load.
There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.